Friday 11 – Sunday 13 February 2022
To celebrate the centenary of the BBC, the BBC Orchestras and Choirs and the Ulster Orchestra, come together for a weekend of live performances on BBC Radio 3 showcasing the rich and diverse talent across the UK (11-13 February). The majority of the BBC Orchestras and Choirs have their origins in the first pioneering decade of the BBC. Their founding mission was to bring classical music to the widest possible audience on the radio, and today their mission has expanded to encompass radio, TV, digital, live concerts and learning work.
Across the weekend, each ensemble gives a live broadcast concert including music from the 1920s and the 2020s. Composers include Vaughan Williams, Stravinsky, Errollyn Wallen, Judith Weir, Bryce Dessner, Hindemith and Howard Goodall.
The output of the six groups covers a wealth of musical styles, reaching audiences right across the UK and beyond with live concerts, extensive learning work and broadcasts across many BBC platforms. Each year the Orchestras and Choirs can be heard for hundreds of hours on BBC Radio 3 with regular outings across Radio 2, 6 Music, BBC Two and BBC Four, as well as providing more than a third of the annual BBC Proms concerts, the world’s largest music festival.
Whether it’s been the BBC National Orchestra of Wales on the soundtrack to Doctor Who or the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Singers performing at the Last Night of the Proms on BBC One; the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra pioneering contemporary electronic music in their Tectonics festival on Radio 3; the BBC Concert Orchestra live on the Ken Bruce show on Radio 2; or the BBC Philharmonic on ten local BBC radio stations across the North West with The Great Northern Playlist – the local, national and international reach of the BBC orchestras and choirs has placed them at the heart of music making at the BBC.
The origins of the BBC Orchestras and Choirs can be traced back to the very year the BBC came into existence with the 2ZY Orchestra, the precursor to the BBC Philharmonic, giving its first performance on the 2ZY radio signal in Manchester, one of two frequencies used to launch the BBC. The BBC Wireless Singers, who later became the BBC Singers, were formed in 1924 and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales gave its first performance in 1928. The BBC Symphony Orchestra came into being under the direction of Adrian Boult in 1930, whilst the BBC Concert Orchestra traces its roots back to the BBC Theatre Orchestra formed in 1931 and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra was established in 1935.
The roster of Chief Conductors and Composers in Association from Malcolm Sargent to Simon Rattle, Pierre Boulez to Colin Davis, Peter Maxwell Davies to Judith Weir have kept the artistic ambitions of the BBC Orchestras and Choirs at the forefront of music making worldwide throughout the past ten decades. With the arrival of The Third Programme, the precursor to Radio 3, in 1946 the orchestras and choirs found a home for their distinctive music programming, reaching millions of listeners which continues to this day.
The weekend of concerts will be available on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Sounds.
Full programme details
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Friday 11 February, 7.30pm
Barbican, London
Bryce Dessner: Mari UK Premiere
Strauss: Burleske in D minor
Mussorgsky orch. Ravel: Pictures at an Exhibition
Kirill Gerstein piano
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Semyon Bychkov conductor
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Saturday 12 February 1.00pm
Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff
Sebastian Hilli: Miracle
Copland: Appalachian Spring Suite
Grace Williams: Elegy for string orchestra
Stravinsky: Pulcinella Suite
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Ryan Bancroft conductor
BBC Concert Orchestra
Watford Colosseum, Watford
Coates: The Merry Makers overture
Anne Dudley: Musique d’Elle (suite)
Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending
Arnold: Beckus the Dandipratt
Xia Sloane: brink
Artie Butler arr. Johnny Mandel: Here’s To Life
Rogers/Hammerstein arr Guy Barker: It Might As Well Be Spring
Wayne Shorter arr Guy Barker: Nefertiti
Coates: London Suite (London Every Day)
Clare Teal vocals
Nathaniel Anderson-Frank violin
BBC Concert Orchestra
Anna-Maria Helsing conductor
Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
Hindemith: Kammermusik no.1
Aziza Sadikova: Marionettes UK Premiere, BBC Commission
Schumann: Piano Concerto in A minor
Tippett : Ritual Dances from The Midsummer Marriage
BBC Philharmonic
Omer Meier Wellber conductor
Ulster Orchestra
Sunday 13 February, 11.00am
Waterfront Hall, Belfast
Hamilton Harty: Piano concerto
Conor Mitchell: Democracy Dances
Michael McHale piano
Ulster Orchestra
Andrew Gourlay conductor
BBC Singers
Sunday 13 February, 4.00pm
Milton Court, London
Vaughan Williams: Mass in G minor, interspersed with:
Judith Weir: Love bade me welcome
Melissa Dunphy: Mourning to dancing
Roxanna Panufnik: Child of Heaven
Philip Cooke: Agnus Dei
Errollyn Wallen: Pace
Howard Goodall: Unconditional Love European premiere
Walford Davies: God be in my head
BBC Singers
Howard Goodall conductor
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Sunday 13 February 2022, 7.30pm
City Halls, Glasgow
Weill: Quodlibet
R. Strauss: Hymne an die Liebe (Hymn To Love) Op. 71, No.1
Ryan Wigglesworth: Five Waltzes for viola and orchestra
Berg: Three Fragments from Wozzeck
Katherine Broderick soprano
Scott Dickinson viola
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Ryan Wigglesworth conductor